


almost found heaven but i missed a step

by volunteer_of_hufflepuff



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: A multitude of background characters, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Gen, Heavy References to Infernal Devices, Sad Ending, What if Magnus Bane died young, and the world died with him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:15:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24537595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/volunteer_of_hufflepuff/pseuds/volunteer_of_hufflepuff
Summary: Some people like to think of themselves as worthless, as insignificant.But for someone like Magnus Bane, that is not the case.Alternatively: Magnus Bane falls to the warlock hunts early on in his life, and the world dies with him.For a world without Magnus Bane is not a pretty one.
Kudos: 16





	almost found heaven but i missed a step

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [across the cosmos, he fights](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15893676) by [volunteer_of_hufflepuff](https://archiveofourown.org/users/volunteer_of_hufflepuff/pseuds/volunteer_of_hufflepuff). 



> here, have some angst. enjoy!
> 
> this is quite sad, be warned, and there are references to infernal devices [mainly highlighting how significant magnus bane was for its success].
> 
> title from 'promises' by EXES.
> 
> thank you to A_TAUPE_FOX for betaing!

Another world is crueler. Magnus Bane does not survive the warlock hunts without his father’s protection. He will not live to see the revolt led by a Lightwood boy with passion entrenched in his lips. Instead, he is a set of golden cat eyes in an outdated museum that made a boy shudder with disgust at his own people.

Some people like to think of themselves as worthless, as insignificant.

But for someone like Magnus Bane, that is not the case.

The first serious diversion doesn’t occur for a while. The world drifts and drags, ebbing along like a river.

It’s only in the 1870s that the real ripples start to crash through.

There is a war, and there is no Magnus Bane there to tip the scales, no one to tell a frantic Herondale that he is not cursed.

No one there to invent the portal, to add the spark of magic to Henry Branwell’s frantic mathematical notes, to transport people to a mountain nestled in Wales in the nick of time.

So Mortmain wins, and many fall.

The Lightwoods push through, as do the Fairchilds.

The Herondales do not.

That is the first thing, really, of any significance. Yes, there are people who are different, from the lack of Magnus in their lives, but this is the first time that his lack of existence has led to the loss of life, the extinction of a renowned family - the rest of the Herondale line.

Without Magnus, Jem Carstairs perishes in the whirl of a frantic evening, and Tessa Gray never learns how to control her powers, or how to live in a world where she doesn’t have anything, not really.

The Clave, infuriated by Mortmain’s audacity, at his near slaughter of their people, revoke The Accords.

And, years later, there is no Uprising.

There doesn’t need to be, not when spoils are still legal.

Without Magnus, without the man who cares and loves and protects, the Downworld’s politics are vastly different.

For the warlocks, there is no steady leader: for the vampires, they are led by a crazed Camille Belcourt, with no hope of a saviour when Raphael Santiago perished the same day he turned. Luke Garroway? Here, there is only ever Lucian Greymark.

The seelies have withdrawn from the Shadow World altogether. They do not need anyone else but their own kind, after all. Their own realm is sufficient, locked away from everyone else: the Seelie Queen ignores the cries of the slaughtered Downworlders outside without batting an eye.

Here, there is no Clary Fray who befriends Downworlders: instead, there is Clarissa Morgenstern who slaughters them for the greater good alongside her father who is revered by the Clave.

But not everyone follows the Clave blindly.

The Lightwood siblings: only ever Isabelle and Alexander, Max never born without peace and Jace never even a thought. 

Because they found journals, from long ago, from their ancestors: and they learn of the Accords, learn the story of Tessa Gray, of Will Herondale.

So they stop. And think. How is it fair, that their ancestor Benedict Lightworm is still revered, in part, for killing his wife by proxy, whereas there are no mentions of how everything blew up because of the Clave?

They plan. They whisper. They revolt. But they do not win, two passionate Shadowhunters lost to the swirl of time.

For in a world without Magnus Bane, the world dies.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed my upcycling, I wrote this last year and was like _heck, why not post it?_ , so I hope that it was fun [incredibly angsty] to read!
> 
> all comments and kudos and whatnot are appreciated xx
> 
> [tumblr](https://mirrorofliterature.tumblr.com/) | [twitter](https://twitter.com/mirroroflit)


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